Provincial TV news host gunned down in Honduras

May 11, 2011 3:38 PM ET

New
York, May 11, 2011--The
Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of provincial television
journalist Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco in Honduras and calls on local
authorities to thoroughly investigate the murder.

According to news reports, Medina
Polanco was shot around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday outside his home in Morazán in the northern
department of Yoro. He died today from related complications at a municipal
hospital in San Pedro Sula. The journalist, who produced and hosted the TV9
news program for the local cable company Omega Visión, was on his motorcycle
returning home from work when he was shot in the arm and the back by two unidentified
assailants also on motorcycle who had been following him, according to CPJ
interviews and press reports.

According to Tegucigalpa-based El Heraldo, Medina Polanco had reported
on corruption in the local mayor's office and on regional land disputes. The
journalist's brother, Carlos Alberto Medina Polanco, told CPJ that Medina
Polanco had been threatened several times over the past six months. El Heraldo reported that the journalist
had reported threats to the local authorities. He also worked for governmental education project, his brother said.

"Honduran authorities must thoroughly
investigate Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco's murder and bring the perpetrators to justice,"
said CPJ's deputy director, Robert Mahoney. "It is unacceptable that Medina Polanco
had reported being threatened and was not given protection."

CPJ
has recorded a string of recent attacks on journalists throughout the country.
In April, director of San Pedro Sula-based Radio Uno Arnulfo Aguilar was ambushed by a group of
armed men outside his home. In March, at least seven journalists covering a
weeks-long teachers' protest faced harassment, attack, and detention, CPJ found. Earlier that
month, Radio Voz de Zacate Grande director Fanklin Mendez was shot in the leg over
the station's critical coverage of land disputes in the area.

Nine other Honduran journalists to have
been murdered since March 2010, at least three in direct reprisal for their
work, CPJ research shows.